Cubs manager Piniella criticizes baseball analyst

Chicago Cubs manager Lou Piniella watches from the dugout step during the second inning of a 6-1 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates in a baseball game in Pittsburgh Monday, June 7, 2010.
(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

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Piniella took exception Friday to recent comments Stone made to Comcast SportsNet when he reiterated Colvin should be playing regularly, something he has said repeatedly.

"We've got a lot of people people here that haven't managed and won any games in the big leagues that know everything," Piniella said before Friday's game against the White Sox. "I think they should try to put the uniform on and try this job, and see how they like it when they get criticized unjustly. That's all I've got to say about that issue."

Actually, he had plenty more.

He said he's tired of being "nitpicked" about Colvin, who was not in the lineup Friday against the White Sox. Colvin is batting .290 with six homers and 16 RBIs in limited playing time.

"And another thing I'm going to say -- I won over 1,800 games as a manager, and I'm not a damn dummy," Piniella said. "That, I can tell you. OK? There are only 13 others that have won more games than me, so I guess I think I know what the hell I'm doing. All right?"

He said Stone has "enough problems doing what he does with the White Sox."

"What job has he had in baseball besides talking on television or radio?" Piniella asked. "What has he done? Why isn't he a farm director and bring some kids around? Why isn't he a general manager? Why hasn't he ever put the uniform on and been a pitching coach? Why hasn't he been a field manager? There's 30 teams out there that could use a guy's expertise like that, you know? I'm tired of some of these guys, I really am."

The outspoken Stone, in his third season as a White Sox broadcaster, is a former AL Cy Young Award winner. He spent two decades in the Cubs broadcast booth working alongside Harry Caray and Chip Caray until 2004.

He said he never called Piniella "an idiot" or "a bad manager" but believes Colvin needs 30 at-bats a week, either in the majors or the minors.

"I think Lou conveniently forgets that I was one of the champions for him to get the job when a lot of people wanted Joe Girardi at that time," Stone said.

Colvin's playing time has been limited in a crowded outfield that includes Alfonso Soriano, Marlon Byrd, Kosuke Fukudome and Xavier Nady.

"I've got five major league outfielders," Piniella said. "It's not fair that I just abandon one or two of them. It's just not fair, and I'm not going to do it."

Stone said a five-man outfield "has never worked anywhere I've that I've known, so when you're given that, it becomes a very difficult thing. I don't go back on anything I said."